THE MARINI FAMILY

WELCOME TO THE CRAZINESS OF OUR LIFE WITH TWO BOYS!

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Magination Friend

So, Matthew has a "Magination Friend". Don't try to correct him, by calling it an "Imaginary Friend", he'll say you're wrong. We don't have a lot of experience with "magination friends" and that can be dangerous. For instance, I don't know where he sits when he wants to sit down or frankly, when he is even "with us". His name is Meteor. And yes, according to Matt, that is how he spells his name. He joined us the other nights at dinner and thank goodness there was an extra seat at the table because he apparently can't fit on the chair with Matthew.

Anyways, I am not sure how long he will be with us. He pops up at the oddest of times and we REALLY TRYING TO BE COOPERATIVE ABOUT THIS!!!

Stay tuned and, of course, sorry there is no picture....

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Cuteness!


This was taken this past weekend in the hotel room. My boys love a good hotel room, well...any hotel room.

Real quick story. In the picture, Ryan is playing Matthew's DS. As we were getting ready to leave, and we were trying to pack up to leave, we noticed that Matt was missing some of his DS games. So, I went out to have a conversation with Matthew about his games and this is what took place...

(Scene--In the hallway of hotel....voices occasionally raised)

Mom: Matthew. Where are all of your DS games? I can only find four, so we are missing two.
Matt: I don't know.
Mom: Well, we need to find them now. Did you know Ryan was playing with your game?
Matt: Yes.
Mom: What have we told you about your DS? If you are not playing it, you have to put it some place high so Ryan can't get to it. If he lost your games, it is because you were not careful and you did not remember to put it up high. Those are expensive and we cannot replace them that easily.
Matt: Well, if Ryan was playing it and he accidentally lost them, then I would not get mad because it was an accident. But, it he lost them on purpose, I would get mad because it was on purpose. I think he did it on accident.


(Exit Mom...I have no argument for that)

Nana Sharon's Birthday Weekend

This past weekend we spent Saturday and Sunday in San Francisco for Sharon's birthday. For Christmas, Richard had surprised her with a weekend in the city with ALL of the Marini's. It was a real treat because it is very rare for all of us to go away together. We spent most of Saturday at the California Academy of Sciences Museum. It was a great day and the kids had a blast together. That night we went out to a fabulous dinner.

Probably the most memorable part of the day happened just before we were getting ready to leave. We had gone up to the roof because you can walk around on top of the building and see the living roof. So, as we were getting ready to head back down, we decided to take the elevator down because Rich had been carrying a sleeping Ryan for about an hour....and that sweet child is no feather-weight. As we were waiting for the doors to open, another family was there waiting to get on as well. When the doors opened, Matthew and Mason jumped on and we played a game of "You go...No, you go...No, really, you go." with this other family. As neither of us committed to getting on the elevator, the doors closed and Matthew and Mason took off. By themselves. As the doors shut, the elevator proceeded down, all of us looked at each other and said..."CRAP!!!" So, Michael took off down the stairs at record pace to try get to them. Now, one would think that we were panicked and scared...and we were...right up until we all started laughing so hard we couldn't breathe. It was hysterical. So, after our little hoot and holler, we headed down to see about the boys. They were fine, they did a great job. They had gotten off at the first stop and just waited there until Michael found them.

If you ask the boys what there favorite part of the day was...there answer was the ride in the elevator. A multi-million dollar museum, with the most amazing exhibits, and their favorite part was the elevator ride.

Here are some pictures from the day.





Sunday, February 15, 2009

The Twenty Minute Snow Trip

On Sunday, Rich and I decided to take the boys up to play in the snow. For fifteen minutes there was a mad scramble around the house to put together outfits fit for the snow, even though we own nothing that is suitable for the snow, let alone getting out and playing in it. After we dressed Ryan, he could barely walk to the car with all six of his layers on. Thank God he still wears diapers, because he was dressed for the next four hours. Matthew's clothing was a bit different. He did have snow shows and gloves and a thick jacket, so we were a little less worried about him freezing to death.

After all of the layers of clothing, after putting in the snow discs, after driving an hour and a half to find snow....it ended up being the quickest trip in history of all snow trips. We got out, we played, we froze, we got back into our car. Here are some pictures. Don't adjust your screen, your eyes are fine, yes that is Rich out in the snow (35 degrees) playing in shorts. The few choice words I had to say to him will go unpublished for now....but I'm sure you can figure it out...those of you who know me well.





Monday, February 9, 2009

The Whitehouse

Well, we are officially on countdown until our trip to see Noelle in West Virginia. Yesterday we booked a hotel in Washington D.C. and we plan on cramming everything we can in the shortest amount of time possible. As I would love to visit all the main attractions, I really am picturing Noelle driving at a moderate speed around town as I have half my body out the window either taking pictures or video-taping. I have this vision of visiting Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, Smithsonian, etc. at the rate of approx. 25 mph, and I don't think I am far off.

Noelle and I already tried contacting our congressman to see if we can take a Whitehouse tour, but they will not let us because we are not a group of 10 or more. That's fine. Whatever. They will then have to deal with us hanging around outside, hopefully gaining suspicious glances and unwanted attention from the secret service, as we protest that we are five short of an actual group!

As we are looking forward to this trip. I did have to let Matthew down about not visiting the Whitehouse. Somehow, I don't know if it was television or what, he heard about the Whitehouse having a bowling alley. He immediately asked if we could go bowling there. I told him no, for a couple of reasons....

1. The Whitehouse is not a place of business...well, crap, it is (should I explain the situation room now or later?)...okay, it is not a place of business that hosts bowling leagues and birthday parties. It is simply some one's house that has a bowling alley in it.
2. Not just anyone goes to the Whitehouse. You have to be invited or be in a GROUP OF TEN OR MORE!
3. This is a functioning house and the family that lives there really doesn't care if you want to come bowling or not, because they don't have a clue who you are and that makes you a security threat.
4. And finally....No honey, we can't simply go up to the door and ring the bell to ask them. The men with the big guns, dressed in black, on top of every building in a five mile radius, would appreciate it if you would stay behind the nice tall black gates and enjoy the view from outside.

Can't wait!!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Four-skin

Okay, so I need to post this story. Simply because the "word" has started coming up again...no pun intended.

So a few months ago my sister and I were sitting in the living room visiting while all three of the kids were playing. Ryan was doing who knows what, Natalie was probably watching Noggin, and Matthew was sitting in a chair talking to himself. As Noelle and I were carrying on in our conversation...I'm sure solving the world's problems...Matthew out of nowhere says, "I just love my foreskin."
Noelle and I froze in mid-sentence and I said to her, "Did he just say..." and she quickly added, "He said EXACTLY what you think he said."

Here is the conversation as it followed.

Mom: Matthew, what did you just say?

Matthew: I said I loved my foreskin.

Mom: What do you mean foreskin?

Matthew: You know, when you scrape you hand or finger and it bleeds, the skin grows back one-skin, two-skin, three-skin, and four-skin.

Mom: OH THANK GOD!!


When Noelle and I could talk again after laughing, I simply said how lucky I was that this conversation did not originate at school during show and share.

Don't worry, I have since told him that the number of layers of skin that grows back is three. Just to be safe. :-)